Snapshots: Senators will unveil alumni roster Friday at Lansdowne

LOS ANGELES — The Senators will welcome back some familiar faces for next week’s Red and White Alumni Game on Parliament Hill.

While the players who have accepted invitations to suit up for either Team Alfie or Team Phillips on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. will be confirmed at a news conference on Friday at Lansdowne Park, there will be plenty of recognizable faces among the former Senators that will pull on their old jerseys again.

With former captain Daniel Alfredsson and long-time alternate Chris Phillips preparing to draft their teams next Thursday night, there will be no shortage of talent to choose from including former defencemen Wade Redden, Jason York and Steve Duchene when the rosters are announced.

The Senators have also invited former captain Alexei Yashin. He splits his time between Moscow and New York City and was still working on finalizing his schedule.

Former Senators centre Radek Bonk lives in the area and will likely be involved and the club’s inaugural captain Laurie Boschman has already confirmed his participation.

There’s talk that former winger Marian Hossa may participate in a coaching role.

Centre Mike Fisher, who retired last summer after going to the final with the Nashville Predators, has also been extended an invite, but it’s not known if he’ll be able to make it. Former winger Shawn McEachern had to decline because he’s coaching in the Boston area that weekend.

Although winger Chris Neil hasn’t officially retired yet, Phillips indicated last week when he was on Parliament Hill he was trying to convince the long-time Senator to suit up.

All the details will be confirmed when Phillips and Boschman meet with the media on Friday, but no matter who participates, it will be great to see the old faces around. The format is such the players will have a good time with it.

OFF THE GLASS

Coach Guy Boucher decided not to make any changes to the roster on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center, which meant defenceman Fredrik Claesson sat for the second straight game. The coaching staff toyed with the idea of scratching Cody Ceci, who has been struggling, Wednesday in Anaheim but in the end it was Claesson that sat. Asked how close he was to sitting a veteran, Boucher said: “I don’t look at it as vets or young guys. I look at it who’s performing and if I replace somebody, whoever it’s, am I replacing him with somebody who’s going to do better or has done better? If they haven’t done better there’s no reason to replace those guys. It’s not a question of shaking things up. It’s a question of deserving and looking what our assets are.” Ceci came out as the seventh defenceman during a skate Tuesday here … Boucher was pleased with the effort the club got from the line of Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Gabriel Dumont on Wednesday. The plan was to keep them together in Los Angeles.

AROUND THE BOARDS

It hasn’t been easy for captain Erik Karlsson coming back from off-season foot surgery, but Boucher liked what he saw in Anaheim. “That’s Erik Karlsson, right there,” said Boucher. “He came out hard, he wanted to lead and I thought (Ben) Harpur with him gave (Karlsson) some stability. We’ll see if that continues but that definitely looked strong. We always look at Erik helping everybody else but he also needs to feel comfortable with his partner and we need something stable there. That’s as stable as I’ve seen Erik this year for sure.” … Winger Alex Burrows said he believes the Senators aren’t far from turning the corner. “We’re close,” said Burrows before the game. “Sometimes when you’re winning, you’re not as good as you think you are and when you’re losing you’re not as bad. We’re right there. I’d say (Wednesday) was one of our best games in the last little while. We just have to stick with it. We just have to believe in each other and keep working for each other. We did that (in Anaheim).”

THE LAST WORDS

There are lots of teams willing to help the Senators if they want to make a move during their struggles. GM Pierre Dorion spent the morning on the phone — he initiated some of the talks — but he spoke with several … After spending the week in Belleville rehabbing from a cracked finger, Senators prospect Drake Batherson made his return to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles lineup on Thursday night. He’ll play this weekend and then head to St. Catharines next week to participate in Team Canada’s training camp for the world juniors later this month in Buffalo … With 29 stops in the victory over the Senators, Anaheim goalie Ryan Miller recorded the 40th shutout of his career. That tied him for second all-time with John Vanbiesbrouck and Frank Brimsek among U.S.-born goalies. While Kings goalie Jonathan Quick is No. 1 with 46 in his career, Craig Anderson is third on the list with 39 lifetime.

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